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Tuesday, June 20, 2017

America now being challenged by a crisis of integrity

Integrity is defined as adherence to moral and ethical
principles; soundness of moral character; honesty. As a society we have moral
values, professional ethics and other rules that we are expected to uphold at
all times and under all circumstances. When we adhere to professional ethics,
the rules of life, and the body of laws, we have a desirable society that is
principled, and functions smoothly and efficiently.

In today’s America, evidence of lost integrity is all around
us: millions of out-of-wedlock children, people who are not needy collecting
welfare benefits, frivolous or questionable lawsuits, and a long list of crimes.

And in the political realm we witness inflammatory language,
protests shutting down protected free speech, media taking sides, mob violence
and other outrages that have grown to epidemic proportions. These activities
are strong evidence of the abandonment of basic human integrity as well as
professional integrity.

An immediate danger to the nation and its people is the
insanity that has evolved since the election of Donald Trump as president. Lots
of people – Republicans, Democrats and the politically unaffiliated – show
signs of hysteria. Many are dedicated to bringing Trump down, and seem to be
devoted to a “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead” philosophy, giving little
thought to the repercussions this ill-advised path may likely produce.

Trump’s enemies say that he lit the fuse, and he undoubtedly
contributed to the current atmosphere. But just because you dislike or hate
Trump and his policies, does not entitle you to lie, cheat, commit acts of violence,
and behave in a manner that subverts America. If you didn’t support Trump in
the election there is only one sensible and honorable path for you to take: Get
over it. And remember that you are an American and he legitimately is America’s
president.

Three areas are very dangerous for integrity failure: News journalism,
the federal judiciary and government bureaucracies.

Last week The New York
Times published an editorial stating as fact that when a gunman shot
Arizona Democrat Rep. Gabby Giffords in 2011, he was reacting to a political
map created by Sarah Palin showing areas that were “targeted” in the coming
election. That was untrue, discredited years ago, and The Times corrected its humiliating blunder. But doesn’t
journalistic integrity demand that such known details be found before publication? Clearly, integrity
sometimes takes a holiday at The Times.

It is very common these days for a news organization to attribute
information to an “anonymous” or “unnamed” source. Sometimes, of course, a
legitimate source needs the protection of anonymity. But the downside is that this
tool can be overused, can be used to cover a non-credible source, or even used
when there is no source at all. Add to this the tendency to exaggerate, and
even create false stories, and the information upon which we all rely becomes
unreliable.

If
you’ve ever worked with an attorney you probably noticed how detailed legal language
is, so that the exact intent of a document is clear. Yet, we find judges today
who abandon the plain language of an Executive Order in favor of what they
imagine was in the mind of its author in ruling in favor of a challenge to the
Order. It looks as if political desire replaced judicial integrity.

And what about administrative agency employees who abandon
their duty to their country, the American people they are paid to serve, and
their ultimate boss, to play politics, leaking sensitive information, and even
classified information in a cheap and disgusting ploy to damage a duly elected
president?

Those who foolishly undermine national security because of
their emotional inability to adapt to reality may someday wonder what exactly
their behavior has done to their once free and wonderful country.

A lot of political hay can be made in such an atmosphere,
and the beneficiaries of this are some elected public servants as well as
appointed bureaucrats. Such behavior is the stuff of third-world hellholes, and
the abandonment of professional and personal integrity moves America ever
closer to becoming one of those.

On the one hand anti-Trumpers denigrate and belittle Trump,
and on the other hand they raise him to a high level, one so great that they
use it to justify abandoning near-sacred elements of their professions and
common decency. It is Trump’s fault, they assert, that they indulged in
behavior that is dangerous and often illegal.

Commentator Charles Krauthammer said on Fox News recently,
“When you say ‘unless we stop Donald Trump, the republic will not survive,’
then that justifies anything. That’s the language, the ideology, the rationale
of terrorists...” And, it produces behavior that will destroy the republic.

We cannot
and must not excuse criminal behavior, like the shooting at a Republican
Congressional baseball game practice earlier this month, or even the mob
violence of late, as the result of foolish and inflammatory language. But it
does not help diffuse the raw craving of those who consider resorting to
violence when politicians speak rashly, the news media takes a partisan
position, the judiciary abandons plain language in favor of political
expediency, and other examples of acting outside the narrow path dictated by
integrity and moral character.